Oh Strava, you beast!

Well anybody who's heading south to ride in the coming weeks is doing a whole lot of meditation this weekend I suspect ... OM ... OM ... OM ... I can survive this weather a little while longer! Ha ha ... I seem to be coasting through the wintry weather better than some. Not as well as Gloria though, who seemed genuinely excited about the fresh snow today so she could go play on her new XC skis. (Hope you had a good time G!) Most everybody else I know is riding outside whenever the weather breaks and indoors otherwise ... well I have heard of some just giving up entirely for the time being. Summer's coming though ... it always does!

Friday adventure.

I had a few rides this past week to keep things rolling before the Whiskey. A trainer ride Tuesday (I may have jinxed Team Canada by watching the gold women's game during my ride ... they fell to the Americans. But, doesn't this usually happen the year before an Olympic year, and then we go home with Olympic gold? Just sayin), a Wednesday road ride with Lynda, a pathway ride solo on Friday (after the adrenalin filled dog walk in Bowmont which involved me losing two dogs for 15-20 minutes as they chased a coyote and a deer ... they found me eventually, thirsty, exhausted, and looking very pleased with themselves ... I want to equip them with Garmins and GoPro cameras for future adventures. Oy!) and then some very satisfying hill climbs out in Cochrane yesterday with Sarah.

The hill climbs were a good reminder of how crappy the first climb in a race is going to feel but how the legs give in eventually and get into a rhythm ... we were climbing on the mountain bikes in the wintry wind and some pelting snow. We got 'er done - 2000 feet of elevation gain. I was doing 8 minute climbs with 3 minute descents. We didn't see each other much as Sarah was on 12/5s. We met back at the Rav and hit Coffee Traders for a warm-up coffee and treat before heading back to Calgary.


I met the Strava segment, "Cochranberg," for the first time. I think I'll have to reacquaint myself at some point and give it another go. It's basically the section of hill I was doing but includes a short steep kick before where I ended up starting from. I saw the lower section and had in mind to start my climbs to include that little gem of a kick - it's only 0.1km long but has a 22.7% grade according to Strava. Yeah, I got up that bit (surprisingly I think I did my first trackstand part way up it - the surprise was I managed not to fall over and recovered), stopped, picked my lungs up off the ground, rested for 30 seconds, and reset my Garmin to start recording my first of 5 repeats at the top of that pitch. Me and that little kick will meet again. Surprisingly I have the third best Strava time on that climb overall (the whole thing is 1.3kms) for women on Strava ... oh, there are only 3 of us who've done it. Ha ha ...


Today's a snowy day and a rest day so things are getting done around the house ... though I suppose I'll have to venture out for some dog walking and shovelling. I warm myself up by looking at the Arizona 14 day forecast. Yeah! The new kits are here in time for the race too!

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